The Human Resources office maintained programs essential to support the department's personnel objectives, such as workforce planning, classification, compensation, recruitment, salary and benefit administration, awards programs, employee relations and contract administration, performance assessment reviews, personnel policy and procedures, development and training coordination.

As of June 30, 1999, the department employed 342 people including 244 full-time employees and 98 seasonal employees.

The department's FY 1999 adjusted budget for direct state services was $9,296,000 with grants-in-aid funding of $2,499,000. State aid for the year amounted to $7,004,000 while $156,000 in capital funding enabled the department to upgrade the HVAC system at the Philip Alampi Beneficial Insect Laboratory in Ewing.

Dedicated funding showed a small decrease from the previous fiscal year while federal funding showed a modest increase due to increases in program support.

The fiscal section continued to monitor compliance with all applicable state statutes and regulations and insured that financial transactions were accurate and reasonable and that sufficient internal controls were in place throughout the department.

During FY99 the information technology section undertook a number of projects designed to help the department keep pace with the rapidly changing nature of information processing technology. Key among these were the completion of remediation efforts associated with making the department's major information systems Y2K compliant.

In addition, a new Geographic Information System server was installed along with related peripherals to provide greater program and analytical capabilities for the department's soil and water conservation and farmland preservation programs.

The Division of Administration provides a wide range of support services to the department's operating units, including fiscal and general administrative services, employee services and management, and information technology services. The division's primary mission is to help managers deliver essential programs and services to the state's agriculture industry and to the non-farm constituency the department serves.